Here’s How Long It Will Take To Unlock Everything In ‘Star Wars Battlefront II’ Without Spending Money

Star Wars Battlefront II’s progression system has (rightfully) come under fire for its reliance on a pay-to-win model, in which players can spend real money on in-game loot boxes in order to unlock upgrades that potentially offer a competitive advantage in the game’s multiplayer. Battlefront II’s publisher EA has been quick to point out that loot boxes can also be earned for free using in-game currency, though it takes a considerable amount of time to grind out credits to spend on these boxes. Just how much time are we talking? One dedicated number-cruncher did the calculations and the results are quite staggering.

According to Soeren Kamper’s formula at Star Wars Gaming, which estimates the percentage chance of star card drops, the credits given for duplicate cards, and the average number of crafting parts earned per box, it would take players over six months’ of playtime — or 4,528 hours, to be precise — to unlock everything in the game without spending money on microtransactions.

For those who don’t have the time or desire to spend the next six months of their lives playing Star Wars Battlefront II, Kamper estimates that they could bypass this by paying $2100, the amount it would cost to purchase the 3,111 crates required to unlock everything in the game.

Even though Kamper’s formula ignores variables like the time it takes to level up the game’s Star Cards to level 3 and the time it takes to unlock heroes, his calculations are quite staggering and reveal just how time-consuming/expensive Battlefront II will be for the average player who wants to earn a variety of in-game items, let alone the completionists out there who want to hit 100%.

As part of its continued efforts to do damage control on Star Wars Battlefront II, which has become one of the most controversial releases of 2017 thanks in large part to its progression system, EA will be hosting a Reddit AMA today to field the community’s questions and concerns about the game.

In our review, we gave Star Wars Battlefront II an 8 out of 10, calling it “the game that Star Wars fans have been waiting for … that is unfortunately held back by a poor progression and loot crate system.”